


Carpool

by Pandas62541



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Eddie Diaz Needs a Hug (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley Needs A Hug, M/M, kind of carpool, mlm, twitter made me post this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:22:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29751963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandas62541/pseuds/Pandas62541
Summary: Buck has a date. Eddie gets a call from Buck saying the jeep won't start and his date is waiting on him at a restaurant that's nearly an hour away. After finding a babysitter for Chris, Eddie picks Buckley up and drives him to the restaurant with no words being swapped. As Buck is about to go in Eddie grabs his arm.---“Buck.” Evan feels a hands wrap around his arm. His eyes connect with Eddie’s.“Yeah?”“I can’t let you do this.”“Can’t let me do what?”
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 4
Kudos: 161





	Carpool

Eddie looks up from the paper on the kitchen table at the sound of his ringtone coming from his bedroom. “Hold on, Chris, I’ll be right back, ‘kay?”

Chris nods before going back to his homework that Eddie was previously helping him with. The older Diaz unplugs his phone from the charger before reading the caller ID - he’s confused when he reads ‘Buck’ at the top of his screen. As far as Eddie knows Buck has a date tonight in less than thirty minutes and the restaurant is at least fifty minutes from Buckley’s apartment. Accepting the call has Eddie telling Chris to give him a few more minutes as he ‘has to see what Buck needs’.

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be on your way to a fancy dinner right now?” Eddie feels his heart flutter at the sound of Buck laughing.

“A-about that: my car kinda won’t start. I’ve been trying for about twenty minutes now. I figured I could just call my date and tell her about the car trouble but I don’t think this jeep is going anywhere tonight. I was wondering if you maybe could give me a ride?” 

Buck wasn’t sure he was going to get an answer that night as the silence continued to drag on, leaving the background noise to create a slight buzz between the phone line connections. Hearing Chris call for his dad’s help on a question has Buck quickly apologizing and attempting to hang up the phone before Eddie stops him.

“Hold on.” Eddie moves the phone away from his face. “Give me one second, Buddy! Buck needs my help!” Buck hears his friend clear his throat. “Okay, I’m gonna give Carla a call and see if she can come watch Chris. If that doesn’t work I’m calling Hen. Hell, they’d probably be better at this impostor-of-a-math-worksheet Chris has to do for homework.” The two share a laugh. “I need twenty minutes. I’m sure your date will understand. Especially when she sees the handsome devil that walks through the door. You’ll be there too, of course.” 

\---

Buckley sits himself in the passenger seat without looking in the direction of the man next to him. They share a hurried smile before Eddie puts the car in gear and pulls onto the street. An unpleasant silence sits between them as Eddie focuses on the road and Buck tries to focus on anything but Eddie. Evan doesn’t know how to tell Eddie that his date was canceled fifteen minutes after their call because of a family emergency on the other person’s part - she apologized profusely. Evan also doesn’t know how to express to Eddie how much he didn’t want to go on this date in the first place. God how he wants the person in the driver’s seat to turn around and come back to his apartment with him and just be. 

It’s all he’s wanted for a while now. Seeing Chris smile after winning a video game brings a feeling that Buckley didn’t know could exist. The pain he feels when Christopher and Eddie have to leave at the arrival of bedtime leaves him wishing he could go with them… permanently. Wandering thoughts abandon Buck from reality for the full fifty minutes of the ride with the occasional song making it through the wall he’s learned to build around his mind. Eddie could have been talking this whole time yet Evan couldn’t tell you a single word he’s said - or if he’s said any at all.

“We’re here. Now, your date knows why you’re late, right? I don’t want to have to get another call from you two minutes from now because you forgot to update and they went home already.”

A pained laugh.

“No, uh, she knows. She understood completely and she’s still waiting. Already got a table and everything. Th-thanks. For the ride. I don’t need one back, Callie, my date, offered. I guess I’ll see you later.”

Goodbyes are swapped ahead of Buck unclicking his seat belt and reaching for the door handle. With his jacket in his hands he pushes the car door open, swinging his legs out but stopping with anticipation. He takes a deep breath. Emotions and regret wash over him. Why didn’t he just tell Eddie? Why is he still lying to both himself and his best friend? How long is he going to keep this-

“Buck.” Evan feels a hands wrap around his arm. His eyes connect with Eddie’s.

“Yeah?”

“I can’t let you do this.”

“Can’t let me do what?”

Eddie looks down while pressing his lips into a thin line. A confidence-boosting breath is inhaled. All at once the two sets of lips connect in a moment that no previous moment could have prepared them for. They’ve found it: this is love. They don’t know what they’re going to tell anyone but right now they don’t care. All they need is each other. And they have that.

“I… I’m sorry, Buck. Please don’t-”

“I lied.” Eddie tries to exhale the fear and anxiety.

“What?”

“I lied, okay! Callie canceled our date after you called but you were almost to my apartment so I figured why tell you that you did everything for nothing when I can just pretend everything is going according to plan and then, I don’t know take the bus home or get a ride from-”

Buckley stops at the duplicate osculation that repeats the juncture from not a minute ago. They can feel each other smile against their lips, laughs blowing air against their own noses. Soon they break yet remain close.

With their lips still essentially touching Eddie smiles again. “You really need to learn when to stop talking.”


End file.
